Translation: misc Macross F stuff その２

Disclaimer:
These translations are entirely my own work. Feel free to quote, link etc if you wish, but please don’t claim it as your own. Also, there may well be a few mistakes here and there…do let me know if you happen to spot something ^^

Kawamori Shouji’s first interview on Macross Frontier. First published in Newtype, July 2007 issue; also available in the Official Complete Book for Sayonara no Tsubasa, pp.114-5.

If there’s no challenge,
there’s no point in making a new work.

October 3rd, 1982, Sunday. In a special television slot, the first and second episodes of “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross” were broadcast. Distinguishing itself from its contemporaries, SDFM raised the curtain on a history that has now spanned a quarter of a century. At the time, Japan was in the middle of a SF boom, and even amidst that boom, the symbolic, creative SF company, Studio Nue became the talk of the town with that one work.

“The first ten years seemed long, now that I’m looking back on it, and I also aged a fair bit, but after that, time seemed to fly by. Right from the start, I’d said that I didn’t ever want to do the same thing twice, so I never expected that I would continue with this series for so long (laughs).” So says Kawamori Shouji, who is deep in planning and production as the director of the new anime series, “Macross 25” (tentative title). His voice conveys a sense of nostalgia over the 25 years of Macross.

“Even though the overarching title is the same, I never want to start off in the same way. If we’re just redoing it, then there is no meaning in making a new series. Besides that, I want something fresh to motivate me. The satisfaction demanded by the audience also increases with each new work – even with twice the amount of labour, you can only get around 20% more satisfaction. “Macross 25” is the first new TV series since “Macross 7”, not to mention it’s also the 25th anniversary. Hence, we’re wondering what would happen if we made all the Macross series up til now into a compilation and then ‘added something extra’ (プラスアルファ). That’s the basis of our current challenge.”

“One of the special features of the Macross series is that they always reach out for new things. In the first series, the story and music were proactively linked; in ~7, the protagonist did not fire a single bullet; in ~Plus, we had digital imagery/software; and in ~Zero, we used CG for the first time for the battle scenes. Basically, we tried something new each time. From a technical standpoint, we have many trials ahead, but other than that, we’re all talking about the auditions for the heroine role(s).”

“I’m someone who likes prototypes, so rather than someone who’s already ‘perfected’ as a voice actor or as a singer, I’d rather trust the role to someone who will mature along with the work, who will cross the critical moment along with us in the process of creating it. Putting aside movies, for a television series, I think it’d be great if the actors and the work, along with the audience, come together in an interactive way to create it. The results of the audition will be presented on August 18th, at the 25th anniversary memorial live, so please keep an eye out for that.”

What kind of work “Macross 25” will turn out to be is something all the fans are curious about, so we asked the director what the story will be about.

“This time, we’re having it centered around school life with a story about youths as its nucleus. For example, in the original series, we focused on normal, everyday lives, whilst the movie was more like a play/performance. ~7 was like a manga, ~Plus like a Western film, and ~Zero a myth. So this time, we’re aiming for a ‘high school story’. I especially want teenagers to watch it. It’s a story about boys and girls of their generation, living with the danger, the uncertainty that even if they’re happily going through school together today, it doesn’t mean they’ll be able to meet there again. In all of my works, the previous one always contains within it something like a prototype for the next one. For some time, Macross has been away from the stage we call television, because we raised the quality with the OVA. In contrast, a TV series has many time and budget restrictions, and we didn’t want to create anything until we had the means to produce something that even those who’d seen the OVA would be satisfied. The technology we used to make ~Zero was primed for TV when we were working on “Genesis of Aquarion”. 25 years on from the first series, we’re finally reached an era where we have the ability to make the TV series I wanted to see.”

The new Macross series has thrown off those shackles, and many people anxiously await its completion.